It has occurred to me that somewhere in the holiday shuffle and getting ready to release my annual playlist, I never posted about Pop 2, Charli XCX’s latest mixtape! Well, it’s fucking fabulous. I, personally, took a while to warm up to a few tracks (particularly the ones with seemingly out-of-place rap breaks), but now I groove to the whole thing. I find Pop 2 to be a perfect soundtrack for when I’m at the gym. Charli has a fantastic way of going about featuring artists on these tracks, just as she did with Number 1 Angel. The best track has got to be “Out of My Head” featuring Tove Lo and (my recent obsession) ALMA, and produced by SOPHIE. Many of the tracks on this mixtape could definitely be radio-ready, but this combination of artists and lyrics has the most potential to be accepted into the mainstream. Much of Pop 2 embodies the underground/experimental sound of executive producer A.G. Cook’s record label, PC Music, and the entire genre it sparked up. “Backseat” and “Tears”, featuring Carly Rae Jepsen and Caroline Polachek (respectively) are both more emotionally-centered lyrics, and centered around a more art-electro sound and song structure. “Lucky” is one of two tracks that does not feature another artist, and showcases both Charli’s vocal talent and Cook’s signature autotune and production style in a sort of electro-ballad. “I Got It” is a BANGER, featuring Brooke Candy, CupcakKe, and Pablo Vittar. That one took me a while, but the production and arrangement are stellar, so give it a try. Finally, I must acknowledge “Porsche”. Co-written and featuring MØ, this track could have ended up on either artist’s next album, and is obviously great to drive to! Check out this release; the sheer power of featured artists and producers is worth your listen! Charli XCX is most definitely underrated.